Chennai's Marina Beach gets a makeover

A stroll on the famed Marina Beach in Chennai will never be the same again. One of the world's longest beaches, the Marina Beach has just got a Rs 25.92 crore makeover. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi threw open the new beautified four-km stretch of the Marina on December 20. 

The new stretch now sports a dazzling look, with 14 galleries, a four-metre  internal walkway along the sands and fountains. A state-of-the-art lighting arrangement has also been put in place, enabling visitors enjoy the scenic beauty of the beach at night.

Text: Papri Sri Raman; Pictures: Sreeram Selvaraj

The beautification covers the area from Napier Bridge, built over the river Cooum in 1869. At the bridgehead lies a 1941 War Memorial, with the Chennai Port hogging the beach in its northern section. When the harbour was built in 1876, sedimentation began on the south side, creating the long and now world-famous Marina.
 
Across the port gate, there was an island along the marshes as the river rushed towards the Bay of Bengal. Now, it is silted and has turned into a high-profile exhibition ground where a replica of the Indo-Saracenic (Moghul-Gothic) structure has been erected.

A 1996 study said the Marina on the south had advanced towards the sea by about 1.5 km, while the Chennai shoreline in the north receded by about 0.5 km. Even as the beach has moved further seaward, city civic authorities have built up on at least 300 m of its width in a bid to "beautify" the Marina. 

Moving southward, across the bridge, we come to the memorials -- of former chief ministers CN Annadurai and MG Ramachandran. Not much has changed on this bit, except that Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury's stellar creation in 1959, the statue depicting the Triumph of Labour, has a shining marble floor.

The Rs 19-lakh fountain next to it was opened in 2005, but water gushes from it off and on. On the beach road, fronting the Marina and University of Madras now, an occasional eco-friendly rickshaw can be found, where all these years only buses and cars spewed fumes.

And, of course, designer pillars over marble bays, no sunshade or rain shelter this, and pretty stones to sit on.

Traditionally, public gatherings like candlelight vigils, always took place at the foot of Mahatma Gandhi's statue, close to the idols of thespian Sivaji Ganesan and the Three Lions. Now it is marbled over, with mock pillars and fountains, snatching away the common man's space under the sun.

But locals seem to be apprehensive about the whole plan. 

Balamurugan, who lives in Naatchikuppam, has been selling ice-cream on this beach for 10 years. "I am not afraid of another tsunami, but I do not know whether the beautification will bring more visitors to Marina," he says.
 
Coconut-seller R Jayavel, too, thinks the same.